“You can practice a song a thousand times and still its first note sends you into the unknown.”
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Best of 2025
Welcome to December, readers! Once again, we’re revisiting the favorite nonfiction stories that defined our year—the pieces that moved us, reframed our thinking, or even nudged us to action. Each week, it’s a joy to read and recommend writing that lingers long after we’ve closed our tabs. This year-end collection celebrates the most thoughtful storytelling […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Fire. Dog. Life. Ice
“The thing that always haunted me about explorers was that when they left, they never knew if they were coming back.”
Posted inNewsletter
Help Us Publish Stories That Outlast the Noise
We’re a home for stories that linger. In 2017, I reached out to Candace Rardon, a writer and artist whose watercolor sketches I’d admired for years. Up until that point, I’d only edited traditional essays for Longreads, but I wanted to experiment with illustrated personal narratives. We brainstormed a visual direction, and the final piece […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Notorious Pitchfork Reviewer Was My Biggest Musical Influence
“Pitchfork reviews have always been just as much about where and how music fits in the culture as they have been about the music itself.”
Brendan Fitzgerald
Senior Editor at Longreads Brendan’s writing has appeared at Smithsonian, Literary Hub, and The Morning News, where he wrote the “Press Pause” column. From 2016 through 2022, he was senior editor of Columbia Journalism Review. He is interested in narrative features and essays, particularly those that involve reporting. The subject could be almost anything, so long as […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Translator’s Notes
“In this personal essay, translator Nathan Dize discovers striking links between the fiction he translates and his own family history.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius
“Freak tornadoes, ‘explosions’ of jellyfish, flash floods and dried up pumps.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Planet TikTok
“The app’s young user base, fragmented content, and amped-up algorithm helped it spread around the world. If the US bans it, what would be lost?”
